Thursday Night Football Preview - Week 15 - San Diego vs Denver

This Thursday night we have two AFC West teams battling it out in the Mile High City.

The San Diego Chargers are coming into this match-up with a 6-7 record and every game is now a must win if they want to keep their playoffs hopes alive. The Denver Broncos who have an AFC best record of 11-2 have already clinched their playoff spot and will now be looking to clinch the AFC West and get home field advantage in the playoffs.

San Diego is coming off a big win over the (5-8)New York Giants that helped position them for a great AFC West rumble in Denver. The Chargers were able to hold Peyton Manning and this record-breaking offense to a season-low 397 yards in their first meeting this season, but the Broncos were able to come out victorious 28-20. Their defense has improved through the year and they have been able to hold their last 2 opponents to a combined total of 31 points after giving up 116 in the three weeks before. One thing the Chargers were able to do against this Broncos defense was run the ball. The Chargers were able to rush for 131 yards on 35 attempts in their last meeting with RB Ryan Matthews getting the biggest workload, rushing for 59 yards on 14 attempts and a TD, though most of Matthews yards were gained on a 35 yard run. QB Phillip Rivers struggled against the Broncos 29th ranked pass defense, only throwing for 218 yards and one TD pass to RB Danny Woodhead.

AP

Denver will be coming in after finally getting head coach John Fox back last week after missing about a month because of a heart surgery. Denver was able to get a win in Fox's return, pummeling the (5-8)Titans 51-28. The game was a lot closer towards the beginning of the game, but then Peyton Manning took control of the game and Denver was able to put up double digit points in every quarter of the game. Manning threw for 397 yards and 4 TD's in that game against a very good Tennessee Titans defense. All of Manning's TD passes were to separate WR's and has actually thrown at least 10 TD's to 4 separate WR's this season, the first time in the NFL that someone has been able to do that.

With this being the second game against one another, it should set it up for a tough battle as long as the mistakes are at a minimum, but then again when is it ever a tough match-up for Peyton Manning, unless its the playoffs of course. This should be a high-flying dream come true for wide receivers and if you happen to have any of these two teams WR's in your fantasy team they are a Must-Start this week. The only thing that could ruin that is with this being a Thursday night game, teams a majority of the time seem to play a bit more sloppy. Whether that is from soreness from their previous game a couple nights before or if its more of a game-planning issue. Whichever it is, its a trend although I don't think it would hinder these two teams this Thursday since they happen to play each other two times a year.

A big key for the Charger's if they want to come out of Denver with a win and keep their playoffs dreams alive then they will need to run the ball even better than last time. Also they will need to work on their 3rd down efficiency, going 7-16 in these two teams last meeting in Week 10. The longer they are able to keep their drive alive the less time Manning will be on the field and the way he has played this season, keeping him off the field has been the only thing to slow him down. The Chargers have not beat the Broncos since Oct. 9th 2011 and that game was also played in Denver.

The Broncos have a much easier task at hand being that they have already clinched their playoff spot but Thursday will be business as usual and Peyton will continue his reign. WR Demaryius Thomas scorched San Diego in the last game with 7 catches on 10 targets and 3 TD's. If the Chargers want to keep the game close so they have a chance to win then they will need to pay a lot more attention to Thomas's way, and with WR Wes Welker possibly out because of another concussion it should make the task a little easier. Although Denver does have some great options beside Thomas, such as WR Eric Decker who has brought in 5 TD's in his last 2 games. The Broncos are undefeated at home this year and will look to finish off the year with a flawless home record with their last home game of the regular season. Peyton is only 5 TD's away from Tom Brady's single season record for TD passes, however I don't expect him to break it this week he will have a good shot with his next two games (@HOU, @OAK).

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America

Prediction:

SD over DEN 28-27

As long as the Chargers can continue moving the ball on 3rd downs then I expect the Chargers to come out of Denver with a win. If it wasn't an AFC West game then I would roll with Denver easy, but there is something about division games that you could make a case for almost any match-up.


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